Social media marketing and search engine marketing are powerful ways to reach your target market. Although many businesses lean toward one approach or the other, they are most effective when used together. Before you can use them synergistically, however, you have to understand what each is capable of. Let’s take a quick look:
Search Engine Marketing – The Traditional “Workhorse” of Online Strategy
Search engine marketing includes two major approaches: Search engine optimization (SEO) and “pay per click” advertising (PPC). Effective SEO begins with research about prospective customers, their pain points, and what they search for online. Aligning your Web presence to these needs means crafting informative Web content in the formats customers are looking for. Over time, these efforts influence your site’s search engine placement. Ideally, you’ll achieve high ranks for a handful of targeted search phrases your prospects use frequently.
PPC advertising is usually a complement to SEO. In PPC, enterprises place brief text ads that appear on the right side of the search results screen for given search keywords. The cost of displaying each ad depends on factors like the level of competition for the keyword and whether Google considers your site to be high quality. Ordinary, keyword-driven SEO typically takes time to make an impact, while PPC can spark immediate results. That said, PPC campaigns must be managed carefully to ensure your advertising investment is producing ROI.
Social Media Marketing – A Fresh Take on Digital Age Marketing
Social media marketing involves “becoming part of the conversation” on networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Like PPC, social media marketing can produce results almost instantly. Plus, most aspects of social media don’t cost much: After all, social media platforms encourage you to post as much as you want as long as you are engaging users and getting their attention! 
Although PPC is possible on many social media platforms, it isn’t usually necessary. Instead, you want to excite prospects about your brand by participating in direct dialogue on what interests them.
Amplify Your Voice, Streamline Your Effort: Combining Search and Social Techniques
Combining social and search increases the lifetime value you can earn from each customer relationship. Search engine marketing introduces customers to your brand, while social media keeps them engaged and coming back. The right search engine strategy makes an immediate connection with prospects by filtering them to content that interests them. From there, social media empowers you to respond to their needs, strengthening the burgeoning relationship and converting them into repeat buyers. In effect, search engine marketing is the pathway to your “home” on the Web – and social media is the party going on inside. Both are important, but one is incomplete without the other!
If you’re ready to invest in social media marketing and SEO services, contact us today!